Opinions wanted: Is this racially offensive to an anglophone audience?

[cheriola]

Hello.

This time, I don't have a research question but a thorny issue that I would like some second opinions on, preferably by people of colour. I know this is probably going to cause a big argument, so my apologies go in advance to the mods (and a potential racism trigger warning for this entire thread to everyone who might need it). But I'm a

Comments

[gmdreia]

I'd suggest, as you've described, making a lot out of the unique characteristics of the Siluran as a nonhuman species. Historical parallels can be relevant to discussing oppressions and making appropriate comparisons and you can use human history as an inspiration, but I'd suggest continuing to draw from a range of different human histories and not trying to make the inhuman race a direct analogy of any one particular human group.

^ This. I agree with this.

[cheriola]

Ha, yeah, that Pratchett quote is the basic idea of human relations with aliens in the Whoniverse

[klgaffney]

but I'd suggest continuing to draw from a range of different human histories and not trying to make the inhuman race a direct analogy of any one particular human group. That way, it won't be read as erasing a people group on Earth and replacing it with a nonhuman group, or implying that some particular people group on Earth 'earned' their oppression if real history says they didn't.

That's a big one, I think, I agree, and I would even take it a step further--the most direct, practical way to avoid the idea of erasure is inclusion. Include a healthy range of people from various groups as primary and secondary characters, have them seen onscreen and dealing with the issues in their own true-to-character personal fashion, and the reader is far less likely to see a metaphor where one wasn't intended.

[gmdreia]

I tend to agree with blueinkedpalm that you end up with a much better story when you avoid trying to draw parallels with earth, and just delve into the race itself and what makes it unique. Then the story has the potential to be a masterpiece; everyone may see their own story in it.

[cheriola]

I feel icky just reading about reptillian aliens being connected to Jews ... unfortunately this is actually A Thing.I wasn't around in 1970 when the episode introducing the conflict was broadcast, but from the plot summary I think the alegory was supposed to go along the lines of

[tylik]

My understanding, having only seen a fraction of the material, is that there was a fair amount of discussion during race fail about the use of aliens in science fiction and how this reflects themes of race and racism. I don't know how much you've already read, but that's where I'd start.

[lolmac]

No matter how careful you are and how hard you try, someone will be offended. Be true to your story, continue to work on not being gratuitously offensive, and try to write something that will only offend an unreasonable person. Bear in mind that the unreasonable people are out there, and you can't let them dictate your life.

One of the lessons I took away from the RaceFail episode (look it up if you're not familiar with it already) was this: when white writers try to write non-white characters (be they non-human or not), we stand a very good chance of messing up somehow. But that just means we have to try more often, so we improve.

Some years back, I interviewed a successful novelist from Northern Ireland. The issue of offending people came up, as it often does. His take on it? "If you're not offending someone, you're not trying hard enough." He personally aimed at offending people who were complacent and narrow-minded.

[nachtebuch]

This. I think ultimately, at the end of it, people looking to be offended will find some way to misconstrue whatever you end up with as being offensive or mean in one way or another. That's the Internet for you, I guess, and you can never really predict how anyone will react. As long as your conscience is clear, you've thought about it and you've done your research, your efforts will come through.

To the OP: All the best with the writing!

[tylik]

Of course, ascribing problematic communications over race to "people looking to be offended" is often used as a deflection.

Yeah, there are some people who do troll around looking for arguments. But the flip side is that a lot of people brush off serious objections with this kind of deflection, as if, as long as someone wasn't actively looking to offend, it doesn't matter what they actually said, it is everyone else's job not to be offended.

[lolmac]

Yeah, that's a very common excuse used. It's just laziness. I can't be bothered to do more work or take other perspectives into account or value them, therefore I'll blame the victims. They're too sensitive. It's just fiction, dude, why so serious? This writer is doing the right thing by asking around, getting other perspectives, at least giving a fig, and see, it doesn't take much effort. (And they're not just looking for 'yes' answers, and they won't take criticism personally and get defensive either.)

[the_physicist]

although i do know a bit of Who i don't think i know enough to really see the full picture. part of your concern is after all how the race was used in canon to show parallels with the real world.

i would suggest maybe you can repost this in a Who beta search comm? maybe someone there who is very familiar with the subject matter and who is a PoC with an active interest in stories like this might like to beta for you - both the outline and later drafts.

could be worth a shot.

[clarice]

I think pulling sci-fi inspiration from history is fine. Where people tend to run into trouble is in drawing either heavy-handed or explicit parallels to human history. Dialogue that compares the alien experience to human is sketchy territory, as is making, for instance, alien internment camps and camp procedures that sound exactly like Nazi internment camps, or borrowing literal elements of Southern American slave plantations. There needs to be a bit of distance from historical fact. If it's not written as direct metaphor, you can borrow inspiration widely and the reader will read in bits and pieces of things, but won't map history directly over the story